Fears over 30 mine jobs

MORE than 30 Mount Lyell workers will get involuntary redundancies, the Australian Workers Union believes.

MORE than 30 Mount Lyell workers will get involuntary redundancies, the Australian Workers Union believes.

The Mount Lyell mine

Mine operator Copper Mines of Tasmania last week called for expressions of interest in taking redundancies, but only one person expressed interest, AWU assistant secretary Robert Flanagan said yesterday.

``What that means is they now need to go through a process of selecting people for involuntary redundancies,'' he said.

Mr Flanagan expected the people chosen would probably have to leave the West Coast for work.

He was not aware of anyone else hiring in the area.

``They will be looking for work wherever they can get it.''

The mine has been shut for months following three workplace deaths in two incidents.

It will re-open in stages in coming weeks.

However, new methods to improve safety mean 64 positions are expected to go, with a further 24 likely to go in 2015.

Thirty of the 64 positions will involve contractor Barminco.

Mr Flanagan said Barminco was going through a similar process to CMT, but was able to redeploy workers to Renison, Western Australia and Queensland.

``Unlike Barminco, CMT don't have the capacity to redeploy to other operations.''

He expected most CMT workers would know this week if they were staying or going.

He said workers appreciated the support CMT and the community had given them, but were keen to get back to working at the mine.

``Obviously, people at the moment are very concerned to ensure that they continue to work at the site if possible, but they all recognise that everything's being done that can be done.''